Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

CeresAI vs GEA DairyNet

CeresAI logo

CeresAI

Agriculture

Aerial and satellite crop imagery with per-acre pricing for permanent crops and irrigation

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
GEA DairyNet logo

GEA DairyNet

Agriculture

Modular herd and farm management software for dairies running GEA milking equipment

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CeresAI per-acre pricing only pencils on high-value crops; on low-margin broadacre cereals the fee is hard to justify against free public satellite imagery.; GEA DairyNet the value depends on GEA hardware, so a barn with mixed-vendor parlours, sensors or feeders loses most of the native integration that justifies the software.
  • They diverge on capability: CeresAI covers Aerial multispectral capture, GEA DairyNet covers Herd module.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CeresAI and GEA DairyNet actually diverge.

Attributes where CeresAI and GEA DairyNet differ
AttributeCeresAIGEA DairyNet
Pricing modelPer acre per seasonquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWindows, Web, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CeresAI

  • Aerial multispectral capture
  • Thermal water stress
  • Irrigation fault detection
  • Nitrogen and chlorophyll
  • Pest and disease hotspots
  • Yield variability
  • Third-party integrations

Only in GEA DairyNet

  • Herd module
  • System monitoring
  • CowScout integration
  • Feeding module
  • Youngstock module
  • Cloud data history
  • Modular subscription

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CeresAI

  • An almond grower finding blocked emitters across thousands of trees without walking every rownot GEA DairyNet
  • A wine estate managing deficit irrigation block by block to hit a target fruit compositionnot GEA DairyNet
  • A farmland investment manager verifying tenant irrigation practice on ground it ownsnot GEA DairyNet
  • A citrus operation targeting nitrogen applications to the parts of a block that actually need itnot GEA DairyNet

GEA DairyNet

  • A dairy replacing an ageing DairyPlan C21 installation on existing GEA milking equipmentnot CeresAI
  • A robot barn running DairyRobot R9500 boxes that wants robot data and herd records in one placenot CeresAI
  • A dairy adding CowScout activity monitoring and needing heat alerts to land in the herd software automaticallynot CeresAI
  • A herd manager who wants to pay for a youngstock module covering only the heifers rather than the whole herdnot CeresAI

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CeresAI

  • Per-acre pricing only pencils on high-value crops; on low-margin broadacre cereals the fee is hard to justify against free public satellite imagery.
  • Aerial capture runs on a scheduled cadence and is weather dependent, so it will not answer a question you need settled tomorrow and gaps happen in bad seasons.
  • Geographic coverage follows where the aircraft fly, which concentrates the service in California and a handful of other regions and leaves growers elsewhere on satellite-only products.
  • The company rebranded from Ceres Imaging to CeresAI, so older contracts, integrations and search results use the previous name and buyers checking references need to know both.
  • It flags problems but does not fix them; without an agronomist or manager committed to acting on every alert, the imagery becomes an expensive subscription nobody opens.

GEA DairyNet

  • The value depends on GEA hardware, so a barn with mixed-vendor parlours, sensors or feeders loses most of the native integration that justifies the software.
  • Nothing is published: not module prices, not per-animal rates, not installation costs, so every comparison against DeLaval or Lely requires a dealer quote and there is no way to sanity check it.
  • Per-module per-animal pricing is granular but also means costs climb quietly as you add modules and grow the herd, and the monthly cancellation option does not help once the barn depends on a module.
  • It is a successor to DairyPlan C21 rather than a rewrite of the category, so dairies migrating carry across conventions and data structures that predate cloud software and the transition itself needs dealer time.
  • GEA sells only through authorised partners, so support quality, installation competence and how quickly you get a fault fixed are determined by your regional dealer rather than by GEA.

Pricing, plan by plan

CeresAI

On request
  • CeresAI$undefined/year
    • Priced per acre for a defined season of flights
    • Flight cadence and imagery types set the rate
    • Minimum acreage applies in most regions

GEA DairyNet

On request
  • GEA DairyNet$undefined/month
    • Priced per module, by the number of animals using that module
    • Modules can be cancelled monthly
    • One-time cost for sensors, system technology and installation quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose CeresAI if

  • You need aerial multispectral capture.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want thermal water stress.
CeresAI review

Choose GEA DairyNet if

  • You need herd module.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want system monitoring.
GEA DairyNet review

Questions people ask

Is CeresAI or GEA DairyNet better?
Neither clearly leads. CeresAI starts at On request and GEA DairyNet at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CeresAI or GEA DairyNet?
CeresAI starts at On request and GEA DairyNet at On request.
Does CeresAI or GEA DairyNet run on more platforms?
CeresAI runs on Web, iOS, Android. GEA DairyNet runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is CeresAI best used for?
CeresAI is most often used for an almond grower finding blocked emitters across thousands of trees without walking every row, a wine estate managing deficit irrigation block by block to hit a target fruit composition, a farmland investment manager verifying tenant irrigation practice on ground it owns, a citrus operation targeting nitrogen applications to the parts of a block that actually need it. Of those, an almond grower finding blocked emitters across thousands of trees without walking every row and a wine estate managing deficit irrigation block by block to hit a target fruit composition are not what GEA DairyNet is typically brought in for.
What can CeresAI do that GEA DairyNet cannot?
CeresAI covers Aerial multispectral capture, Thermal water stress, Irrigation fault detection, Nitrogen and chlorophyll. GEA DairyNet covers Herd module, System monitoring, CowScout integration, Feeding module.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CeresAI: Is Ceres Imaging still trading?

Yes, under the name CeresAI following a rebrand in 2024. The aerial imagery service continues and the company has taken further funding since.

GEA DairyNet: Does DairyNet replace DairyPlan C21?

Yes. It is the successor product, built on the same decades of DairyPlan development but restructured into cloud-connected modules.

CeresAI: How is it priced?

By the acre for a season of imagery. The rate depends on crop, region and how many flights the programme includes.

GEA DairyNet: How is it priced?

Per module, with each module priced on the number of animals actually using that module's functions. Modules can be cancelled monthly. No rates are published.

CeresAI: Why pay for aircraft when satellites are free?

Resolution and thermal. Public satellite imagery cannot resolve individual trees or reliably detect a single blocked emitter; aerial thermal capture can.

GEA DairyNet: Will it work with non-GEA milking equipment?

Basic herd records will, but the sensor, robot and parlour integrations that make it worth buying are GEA-specific.

CeresAI: Does it work on broadacre cereals?

Technically yes, commercially rarely. The per-acre fee is designed against permanent crop and irrigated margins.

GEA DairyNet: Is the software cost the main expense?

No. The one-time investment in sensors, system technology and installation is the larger figure, and it is quoted separately by the sales partner.

Share

Related pages

More on CeresAI

More on GEA DairyNet

Keep looking

Other head to heads